An organic electroluminescent device (hereinafter “electroluminescent” shall be abbreviated as EL) is a spontaneous luminescent device making use of the principle that a fluorescent substance emits light by recombination energy of holes injected from an anode and electrons injected from a cathode by applying an electric field. Since a low voltage-driven organic EL device of a laminate type was reported by C. W. Tang of Eastman Kodak Company (C. W. Tang and S. A. Vanslyke, Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 51, p. 913, 1987), researches on organic EL devices comprising organic materials as structural materials have actively been carried out. Tang et al. use tris(8-hydroxyquinolinolaluminum) for the luminescent layer and a triphenyldiamine derivative for the hole transporting layer. The advantages of a laminate structure include an elevation in an efficiency of injecting holes into a luminescent layer, a rise in a forming efficiency of excitons formed by blocking electrons injected from a cathode to recombine them and shutting up of excitons formed in the luminescent layer. As shown in the above example, a two layer type comprising a hole transporting (injecting) layer and an electron transporting and luminescent layer and a three layer type comprising a hole transporting (injecting) layer, a luminescent layer and an electron transporting (injecting) layer are well known as the device structures of the organic EL device. In such laminate type structural devices, device structures and forming methods are studied in order to enhance a recombination efficiency of holes and electrons injected.
Known as luminescent materials are luminescent materials such as chelate complexes such as a tris(8-quinolinolate)aluminum complex, coumarin derivatives, tetraphenylbutadiene derivatives, bisstyrylarylene derivatives and oxadiazole derivatives. It is reported that luminescence of a blue color to a red color in a visible region is obtained from them, and it is expected that a color display device is materialized (for example, patent document 1, patent document 2 and patent document 3).
Further, a device using a phenylanthracene derivative as a luminescent material is disclosed in patent document 4. Such anthracene derivative is used as a blue color luminescent material, and it has been desired to extend the device life. A material having a naphthyl group in 9 and 10 positions of anthracene is disclosed in patent document 5, and a material having a fluoranthene group in 9 and 10 positions of anthracene is disclosed in patent document 6. These anthracene derivatives are also used as a blue color luminescent material, and it has been desired as well to improve the device life. Further, it is disclosed in patent document 7 to use various anthracene derivatives as a hole transporting material. However, they have not yet been evaluated as a luminescent material.    [Patent document 1]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 239655/1996    [Patent document 2]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 138561/1995    [Patent document 3]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 200289/1991    [Patent document 4]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 012600/1996    [Patent document 5]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3782/1999    [Patent document 6]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 257074/2001    [Patent document 7]: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 182776/2000